Blue Blood
by IshimaruKiyotaka
Summary: Prince Ishimaru and Knight Mondo take a little adventure including race horses and flower crowns which causes Mondo to come to a realization.
Ishimaru adjusted his burgundy epaulettes and sash, fidgeting with the buttons on his white uniform as his scarlet eyes gazed at his reflection in the full-length mirror in front of him. The reflection stared back at him, mirroring his nervousness in his tense shoulders and cold, jittery fingers.

"Oowada-kun, how do you think this is? Will I appear 'princely' enough for the subjects? I feel I should instead try the brown Oxfords. Perhaps the circlet? Or maybe that would be too much. I must appear humble, as a representative, after a-"

Behind him, Mondo reclined lazily in a chair, shaking his head and looking at his liege with lavender eyes which almost shone with knowing amusement. "You're worrying too much! You look great, I promise. You'll do just fine! Don't worry so much, Ishimaru."

Ishimaru glared at his knight's reflection in the mirror before leaning down and pulling his right boot up and tightening the knot at the top. "What did I tell you about using my title? Would you like for someone to hear us speaking on such familiar terms?"

Mondo shrugged. "No one's here, it's all fine. Don't worry so much. We'll be okay, and visiting that creepy princess' kingdom to review the terms of peace treaty will go okay. Just relax, okay?"

"Oowada! I demand you use her full name and show her the royalty she, as nobility, deserves! She will supposedly be my wife within the year." Mondo could have swore he saw Ishimaru grimace briefly. "As such, you must refine your manner of speaking of and to her."

"Ugh. Don't remind me about that stupid arranged marriage. You never agreed to that! You've only met the chick, like, twice? It's damn idiotic and it makes no sense."

Ishimaru coolly turned from the mirror, and began to fold the black velvet cape with gold embroidery that Mondo had thrown onto his royal bed. "Well, yes, but it is what must be done. Our kingdom has fallen out of favor with surrounding countries due to… the mistakes of a generation long past, as you know." Ishimaru's knuckles turned to a tense white on the midnight fabric before easing up and continuing with folding. "And this will put us in good relations with a stronger kingdom, and will perhaps finally restore honor to my family's name." He finished his folding by tucking the ties of the cape inside the collar, walking over and placing it in Mondo's lap. "I'm not saying I like it, but it must be done."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it…" Mondo muttered, avoiding Ishimaru's gaze. "I understand. Your kingdom comes before love and all that dumb stuff."

Ishimaru gave a bright, albeit somewhat… wistful? Regretful? smile at his knight. "I'm glad you understand, Mondo! You know, I think I should review my speech just one more time before we get going…" He began to turn, his spine straight and full of dread for the upcoming nerve-wracking meeting, but Mondo rose from his chair, putting his cape aside and dropping his hand on the prince's tense shoulder. He was extremely aware of feeling the the tightened muscle under the smooth fabric against his fingertips.

"You've spent three hours reading that shit! You need a break. Your brain's gonna fry, you know. How about we go out instead?"

Ishimaru turned to face Mondo, his eyebrows drawn taut. "And neglect my royal duties? For what?"

"Come oooon, Taka! What's the worst that can happen? You go out and clear your head a bit and come back feeling refreshed, that's what. Plus, I'm damned bored, and I hate sitting around in this stupid cramped office. My legs are just gonna fall off 'cause we haven't done anything fun in forever!"

"Argh, fine fine, if it will compel you to let me work!" Ishimaru rolled his eyes in Mondo's direction, but before he was even finished expressing his annoyance to this turn of events, his arm was grabbed by Oowada's armored hand, and he was dragged from his room by the especially enthusiastic retainer. "Wa-Woah! Slow down!"

He dragged him past giggling maids and curious nobility and bowing servants all the way down to the stables, where he ordered their horses to be saddled and threw a pair of riding gloves to Ishimaru. "Come on, we don't have all day, your Princeliness. Get on the horse!"

"Don't you have any common sense? Get a helmet on, for God's sake," Ishimaru pouted, putting on protective gear and fastening it safely onto his own head as he spoke. "Or do you want to get another concussion and be unable to ride for a month?"

Mondo grumbled loudly and shoved a helmet over his hair without bothering to fasten it. "There, happy? Now let's go!" He was earnestly tugging Ishimaru towards their horses before the prince had the chance to further voice his growing concern and exasperation.

Before he knew it, he was being thrown onto his horse's saddle, the reins forced into his hand, and a firm slap on the backside of the horse sent it galloping. Soon Mondo was rearing beside him, a smirk on his face. The castle and kingdom may be Ishimaru's (or technically his family's) land, but when he's on horseback, nothing can stop Mondo Oowada, and they both knew it.

"What do you say to a race? Down to the usual place?" Ishimaru heard him say beside him over the wind roaring through his ears. He blinked his watering eyes against the buffeting wind before glancing at the cocky knight. A grin spread across his face and he wordlessly took off. This time he wouldn't even give Mondo a chance at winning. This time he'd understand what it feels like to be humbled.

Ishimaru rode straight-backed on his horse like royalty, digging his heels into the mare's side while holding his gloved hand up to deflect branches which threatened to lash his cheeks, reddened by the cold not-quite-spring air whipping against him as he rode at maximum speed. After coming to a clearing in the forest, Ishimaru briefly glanced back, but with the powerful galloping of the horse beneath him and the trees blocking his sight, he couldn't tell how far Mondo was behind him. He looked ahead, resuming his focus, to find that their "usual place" was just up ahead. Excitedly, breathlessly, he urged the panting horse forward, through foliage and over fallen tree trunks, knowing, telling himself, _I'm going to win this time if it kills me. It's in the bag._

He broke through the treeline to be met with a surprising sight. He pulled the reins, and his horse skidded to a stop in front of a certain lethargic knight sitting against a tree. He looked up at his friend with a familiar lopsided grin.

"Took you long enough."

"I - augh, this is… gaargh, what!" Ishimaru stuttered hotly as he looked down at Mondo. "That's not fair!"

Mondo shrugged, running his hand through his horse's mane as she lay near his feet, humming contently. "Hey, I won fair and square. You might have had me there for a second, but I came out on top in the end."

"How!?"

"Oh, maybe you didn't notice me pass you." Mondo shrugged and stretched as a yawn wracked his body. "It doesn't matter, it was just a friendly competition. Anyways, we're here now, and that's what matters."

Ishimaru found himself feeling uncharacteristically "off" after the intense race and his completely unexpected loss. Mondo, perhaps picking up on this scintilla of a change in his liege's features, got to his feet and hurriedly scurried to the horse's side, assisting Ishimaru in dismounting. When he was safely on his feet, he plopped down and took off his helmet in front of Mondo, who mirrored his action. For a moment they were silent, then Mondo spoke.

"Hey, Ishi, no hard feelings, right? I was just joking with you, you know." He was halfway expecting Ishi to resent him and be angry at the completely inexplicable turn of events, but when Ishimaru's stunning eyes rose to look into Mondo's lavender one, there was delight there.

"Mondo-kun, that was amazing! You really are the ultimate rider! Your skills are incredible!" His eyes glowed with warm pride and astonishment and Mondo felt himself crumple in on himself under Ishimaru's praise. Really, he didn't do anything, he was just doing whatever felt natural, really it's nothing, nothing deserving of praise from someone as wonderful as Ishimaru, his prince, his lord…

Ishimaru would have none of it. "You should still consider taking me up on my offer. If you'd just train the royal guard on horseback, I'm sure they would improve immensely!"

The knight shook his head. "No way, I'm not into that sort of riding. I do it for fun, not to serve the country or whatever, and I don't really want any more responsibility." _And I don't want it to cut into the time I get to spend with you,_ he added in his thoughts.

Ishimaru nodded in understanding, the topic dropped. The two soon migrated to sit again against the comfortable tree, roots full of life as they plucked at the grass. Mondo remembered showing Ishimaru how to whistle by placing a blade of grass between his fingers and blowing. He doesn't think he'd ever seen the prince laugh so hard. His face had turned so red, his laugh becoming breathy wheezes punctured by sharp breaths in. His eyes had been wrenched closed from the hilarity of it all as he laughed like he had never laughed before.

"Ah, Mondo!" Taka's voice called out enthusiastically, wrenching him from his nostalgia.

"Hrm?"

Ishimaru was suddenly not as his elbow anymore, instead crouching in front of a bevy of gentle sky blue flowers. His eyes shone at the sight of the vegetation.

"These are Glory-of-the-snow! One of the first to bloom in spring! It makes sense we'd start seeing them now, I think I saw a crocus the other day." He cupped several fingers under the bud of one and leaned down to sniff the petals. He looked so tranquil, elegant. Royal. Mondo had to avert his gaze to combat the rose blush crawling up his cheeks.

"I'd hate to pick some of the first flowers of spring, but… I think it will be worth it," Mondo heard him mutter more to himself than anything else. He heard the gentle plucking sound of stem separating begrudgingly from stem. He heard the gentle wrinkle of clothes and crunch of grass and dirt as Kiyotaka stood up and made his way back to Mondo's side, sitting down next to his bodyguard with a handful of those flowers. Mondo easily felt Ishimaru's elbow brush up against his own as he sat and began weaving stem after stem together.

Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes passed. Mondo closed his eyes, taking in the sounds. The sound of a creek running nearby, on the edge of the clearing, was interrupted only by the song of the occasional bird. He loved nature, he loved hearing the hum of all living things as they existed in harmonic unison and how insignificant he seemed among the towering oak and sakura trees, his ancestors, those who were here before even his grandparents' grandparents.

He heard rustling and felt a gentle weight on his head. Opening his eyes, he saw the newly fashioned flower crown that Ishimaru was setting on his head with a calm smile. Oowada grinned back sheepishly. Thank god no one else was around to tease him for this. The other knights would never let him live it down. But no, there was no one here but Ishimaru, the sweet, innocent prince who could never do anything wrong, and he gratefully accepted the flower crown like a little prince accepts his crown.

"You're royalty now, too." Taka said, withdrawing his arms and looking at his liege in satisfaction.

"Hah, I wouldn't go that far."

"Now you can see all the good things about being a prince like always having ironed clothes and comfortable bedsheets and warm baths! Erm, also the bad things I guess, too, but that's okay. I think you would make a great prince and I could help you out, kyoudai! You could be a prince-in-training." Ishimaru spilled without filter as Oowada's face grew into a fruity pink hue that mirrored the color of sakura leaves that fluttered down around them.

"Thanks, Taka. You really are a great prince. You're the best prince ever, actually." He hesitated before continuing, fidgeting and twirling his fingers nervously through his sleeping horse's mane. "If I'm royalty too, does that mean we could get married? And, y'know lead the country together?"

For a moment Ishimaru was silent, before bursting into laughter. Mondo wanted to curl up and blow away with the wind. He shouldn't have bothered saying more. There's no way it would ever happen.

Ishimaru's laughter subsided into a soft chuckle and which then melted into a warm smile. "Ah, Mondo. You know, I would much rather marry you than Celeste Ludenberg, by far. That would make me extremely happy." He sighed wistfully and looked up at the sunlight filtering through the tree branches. "If only."

The two were quiet for a moment before Oowada spoke. "Maybe someday. I have hope." _I want to stay with you forever,_ he thought. _I want to marry him and kiss him and argh, all of that. And all of that - it's impossible._

Ishimaru stood with sudden determination. "In order to make the future of you, myself, and my country ideal, I must strive to be a better ruler! This means I must return to the castle and continue my studying immediately!"

Mondo chuckled. Same old Ishimaru. He had his gentle, vulnerable moments where he seemed so very human in every way. Almost angelic. And once he was brought back to the stresses of the world, he was again a constant worrywart. He loved Ishimaru no matter what, though. No way could he ever feel otherwise towards his prince. His ever-determined, hardworking prince.

 _I have hope,_ Mondo repeated in his head. _Someday._

 _What's royal blood mean anyway?_


End file.
